Improvement in steam-generators



idniwl $121M.

pa e emi WILLIAM J. REED, OF WEST MIDDLESEXA SSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, JOHN M. OLAPP, AND WARNER PEARSON, OF N E WOASTLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

Letters Patent No. 95,934, dated October 19, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-GENERATORS.

The Schedule referred to in these "Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. REED, of West Middlesex,.in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Mode of Increasing Oombustion by the Use of Steam; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification,in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section, and

Figure 2, a detached view of the flattened nozzle.

This invention relates to combustion under steamboilers, in furnaces, or any place where it is desirable to increase the natural action of fire, and

It consists in throwing jets of steam into the flame, just above and clear of the fuel, for the purpose of utilizing the gases of the steam, in burning smoke and other gaseous products of natural combustion, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Similar letters in the drawings refer to like parts.

The use of steam to form a vacuum in a chimney, back of or above the fire, so as to cause a rush of air through the fire to fill the vacuum, is well known..

This is not what I propose to accomplish. Steam used in this way does not act as a chemical agent, but merely as a force to produce a draught. I design employing it as a chemical agent, and not to produce a draught.

The composition of steam, by weight, is eight parts of oxygen'to one part of hydrogen. Oxygen is the grand supporter of.combustion, and it is obvious that if steam be decomposed, so as to liberate its oxygen,

. it must develop this agent in large quantities.

I have found, by actual experiment, that by throwing ajet of steam into flame, just aboveand clear of the fuel, a most intense heatis immediately produced, the smoke is all consumed, and a great saving of fuel effected. I, therefore, conclude, that by the contact of flame and steam, the latter is decomposed into its constituent elements, and the oxygen goes to support thecombustion of the fuel and smoke, while the hydrogenburns of itself, increasing the amount of heat developed.

In the drawings- A represents a section of a steam-generator, set in a brick-work support of the usual kind.

B is a .pipe leading from the boiler downward, and opening into. a horizontal pipe, 0, placed in front of the fire-plate.

Out of the pipe 0 lead a number of tubes, 0, ex tending through the fireplate, at a point where they may discharge their steam into the flame above the fuel, as represented.

The tubes chave nozzles, c, on their ends, said nozzles being of flattened form, so as to impart to the jet of steam a fan-like shape, in order that the latter may be more evenly spread upon the flame, and its particles more thoroughly intercommingled therewith.

I do not limit-myself, however, to the use of flattened nozzles, or nozzles of any particular shape.

I am well aware that it is no new thing to employ decomposed steam for the purpose of increasing combustion. This has been attempted to be accomplished in a variety of ways. The steam has been injected into the fire-box in front of and .above the fire, and also in rear of the fire, and also intothe ash-pan, be-

neath the fire, and all these attempts have had reference to the escaping products of combustion, and have consisted in commingling the steam-jets with such products outside of the immediate flame arising from the fuel. But my plan lfas reference to the immediate flame itself, arising directly from the fuel, as I have found, by actual experiment, that all this dealing at second-hand will not perfectly accomplish the desired object, but that it is necessary to apply the remedy directly to the seat of the evil, and that is the fire itself, where,=by increasing the original combustion to the required extent, I prevent the formation of the smoke and gas, which my predecessors have directed their efforts toward consuming.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- Throwing jets of steam into the flame, just above and clear of the fuel, by devices constructed and arranged with specific reference thereto, as herein set forth.

WILLIAM J. REED. Wit-nesses: Y

HENRY PEARSON, D. S. Mourns. 

